In the end, he supposed that he would have to go with the truth. They’d already gotten off to a rocky enough start. If she thought he was nutty, well, then, at least he’d be honestly nutty. And at this point, he was starting to doubt the sanity of this whole situation, anyway.
“Technically, the ghost isn’t followingyouaround,” he said, trying to sound offhand about it, like this kind of thing happened every day. “It’s followingme.”
Chloe blinked, before narrowing her eyes. “Well. Inthatcase, it’s absolutely fine, then. Carry on.”
Our mate is using sarcasm against us! She thinks that we are fraudulent!the pegasus whinnied.Convince her otherwise!
~I do not know what a ‘mate’ is, but I agree that you should assure Miss Chloe that I am real, and pose no threat,~Curtis chimed in… before looking down at himself as he swiped his arm right through his incorporeal midsection.~Well,~he said sheepishly.~Somewhat real, anyway.~
Only years of experience kept Ethan’s reactions to any of this from showing on his face, though he suspected that his eyelid might be twitching ever so slightly.Wait – Curtis, are you saying that you can hear the pegasus?
~Am I not supposed to be able to? My apologies. I did not mean to intrude.~
Ethan shook his head tiredly.No, no, it’s fine. Maybe it’s even a good thing. You two can sort your own problems out, instead of making me be the middleman.
He turned his attention to the pegasus.And now maybe, finally, someone else will see what a pompous, self-centered jerk you can be.
~While I do not entirely disagree that our pegasus friend can be… somewhat disagreeable,~Curtis said musingly,~Heisquite magnificent.~
The pegasus preened, and Ethan had to refrain from slapping himself in the face in frustration. He wasn’t sure which was the worse option: his pegasus being scared of ghosts, or his pegasus being in cahoots with a ghost.
“Hey! Earth to Ethan!”
He jerked back into the real world, where his mate was snapping her fingers in his face and looking pissed. And fair enough, he supposed.
Letting out a deep sigh, he squared his shoulders. Might as well let it all out into the open.
He looked into the depths of her gorgeous hazel eyes, locking his gaze with hers. She looked irritated, but also confused, curious, determined… and stunningly beautiful.
Our mate deserves to know everything,his pegasus insisted, and for once, he had to agree with it.
“Ghosts are real, Chloe,” he said gently but firmly. “I’ve been haunted by one for a couple of months now. His name is Curtis.”
Beside him, Curtis raised a hand, and Ethan cleared his throat. “He’s, uh, waving.”
Chloe’s eyes were as wide as saucers at this point, but she dutifully turned more or less in Curtis’s direction, waving back. “Uh,okay.Hi Curtis, I guess? Nice to meet you.”
Curtis beamed.
“He’s harmless,” Ethan went on, watching intently as Chloe turned back to face him, an expression that could only be described asextremely skepticalon her face. Ethan could feel the need to babble rising up within him – to say something,anything, that might convince Chloe that he was telling the truth. “Something has summoned him back to the world of the living and attached him to me – why, I have no idea – and sowe’ve come back to where he used to live, in order to see if we can find out why he’s here.”
“Oh, I see!” Margot broke in again. “Yes, I understand now. Usually when ghosts haven’t moved on, it’s because there’s some kind of unfinished business that needs attending to. Is that the case here, Curtis?”
~I honestly couldn’t say, Miss Margot,~Curtis said thoughtfully.~To be honest, I rather thought that Ihadmoved on. But it seems that now I am back – though for what purpose remains unclear to me.~
“Hmm.” Margot looked thoughtful. “This is a new one to me – although, I must say that I don’t have a huge amount of experience with ghosts. I would be more than happy to look into your problem and see if I can find anything out, though, if you would like?”
~If it really would not be too much trouble, then there is nothing I would appreciate more,~Curtis said gratefully.
“Of course,” Margot said, her face lighting up in a smile.
Ethan chanced a glance at Chloe, who did not look thrilled with all of this… and he couldn’t really say he blamed her. Not only had she just been confronted with the existence of ghosts, but she was also the only one in the room who wasn’t privy to the full conversation going on.
She narrowed her eyes. “As much as I would like to believe that what you’re saying is true, you do realize thatIrealize that you could both be talking to thin air just to mess with me, right?”
“I… suppose I can see how it might look that way.” It was painful to have his mate doubt him like this, but Ethan knew that he preferred a mate who would be skeptical and do her due diligence over one who would blindly believe everything he said.
Our mate is of strong character,his pegasus said approvingly.A woman who must be won over! Wooed! Convinced we are the right choice for her!
